| In A Word -- Summer 2008 |
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 If one were to rely on the BI internal news that reached my desk at the time I was writing this column, he or she might conclude that BI was all about scholarship. In one piece of news, a prospective BI consultant has been accepted into a doctoral program, whereas another is about to defend her topic for her doctoral thesis. On the one hand, a consultant in training, who already owns a Ph.D., has just finished additional linguistics studies; on the other hand, an adjunct consultant, who is using his Ph.D. in linguistics to teach at a reputable university, presents in this issue of the Briefings a short abstract of a paper on linguistics studies as an illustration of the technical work that goes behind the scene of Bible translating. All these scholars are missionary lives in progress. They work hard to prepare for the daunting tasks of producing conservative Bible translations in languages that have no or inadequate translations. In general, their lives run like the life of Dr. Bernard E. Northrup (as featured in one of the two cover articles) whose outstanding scholarship and amazing accomplishments served to deepen his love for, and commitment to, missions and particularly Bible translation. Yes, they are students! But they are primarily servants for the sake of Christ. When disaster struck Myanmar (“Message from Myanmar”), one of our consultants volunteered to lead an aid effort there. A team of BI workers left Myanmar a day before the cyclone hit. “BI’s Ministry in Myanmar” features the testimony of a Burmese man with whom they worked. This short issue of the Briefings provides a window into the complex world of Bible translating. In a word, we do all these things so that men and women might be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. |
